We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends!! We had nice Thanksgiving with Nana, Papa, and Uncle Phil at our house. We've been putting together a thanksgiving tree and asking the kiddos what they were thankful for to put it on the tree. They seem to have gotten the concept very well. Hank's first thing he was thankful for was Uncle Phil. So cute:) He was also thankful for Nana and his dogs. Josie was thankful for her teachers, Robin and Nancy, Aunt Karen, and cats (don't know where that came from because she is deathly afraid of cats:).
The fall seems to have flown by and the kids have made such great progress! Hank is loving school and is really talking more. He pretty much repeats anything you say now. For good or bad:) He also decided he didn't want to wear diapers anymore which was exciting and cost saving to say the least. He has done awesome! It is nice to have one kiddo out of diapers. Hank also had his first school parties, one for Halloween and a PJ and pancakes party. Chad went to his PJ party and Hank really enjoyed daddy meeting all of his friends. Chad said it is hard to believe he is growing up so fast. He just looks like a little boy running around the classroom and interacting with his friends.
Josie has had a pretty good fall. We've continued to battle strep and sinus infections. At this point she is good for a few days off antibiotics and then starts a slow slide downhill. She is on antibiotics until her surgery this week to ensure we are healthy when we get to St. Louis. We are hoping they have an answer for the constant antibiotic use. At this point she is unable to fight off a cold on her own without some sort of antibiotic intervention. Josie is, of course, loving school and starting to write a little more. She is getting much better at writing her name and she is really getting into counting now. We've made a little classroom in the playroom that she is constantly using. I have to say she is one of the bossiest teachers I've been around:) I must not have a good attention span because she is constantly signing to me to pay attention and look at her when we are playing.
Thursday we are headed to St. Louis for Josie's surgery and a number of appointments before hand. I have to be honest I'm much more nervous about this surgery than any past. I guess with Josie's latest health issues and the fact that we may get a final answer on her ability to eat is stressful. Add in a new hospital and traveling from home it makes for a high anxiety week. Thursday afternoon Josie is going to have an upper GI study and then a couple of appointments with a feeding therapist and pre op. Friday morning she will go into the operating room for a number of procedures. Right now she is scheduled for 4 1/2 hours of OR time so it will be a long day. First, two airway specialists will look at her palate, tonsils, and laryngeal cleft and biopsy her lungs. We won't know exactly what they are going to repair or modify until they get a good look at her. They may shave her adenoids down to reduce the infections she is having and insert a temporary gel into her laryngeal cleft to reduce her ability to aspirate food into her lungs. If the temporary fix works then they will be more willing to do a more permanent repair in the future. Then the GI doctor is going to examine her esophagus and stomach for any irritation and try to determine if she is still refluxing. We would love to reduce her reflux medicine if it is possible because it impacts her bone density, so hopefully they see some improvement. Then, they will take her to CT to do a CT scan of her ears for her ear specialist in KC. We were so glad they were able to fit this in so that we don't have to sedate her when we return to KC for the same test. Finally, they will take her back into the OR for a auditory brain response test to get a clear picture of her hearing. We should talk to each specialist as they finish their part. I think the anxiety from this trip is also a product of the fact there are a number of game time decisions so it is harder to prepare yourself. We don't even know if Josie will be able to go home or if we are in for a couple of days in the hospital. We will pack for the latter just in case. Hank is headed to Nana and Papa's for a few days so he will be in good hands and Chad and I can focus on Josie. Please say a prayer for Josie that she have minimal pain and quick recovery.
